Tips for Making Homemade Butter

Adeline Druart, dairy expert and general manager of the excellent Vermont Creamery, teaches how to make cultured butter at home.

It doesn't take much more than a brief lapse in attention to make butter, as anyone who's mistakenly whipped cream for too long can attest. European-style cultured butter, however, doesn't happen by accident: Before churning, you first have to add "good" bacteria to heavy cream with a small amount of either buttermilk or store-bought crème fraîche. As the cream sits out on a counter, the bacteria go to work, thickening the texture and creating wonderfully tangy and nutty flavors. We asked Adeline Druart, dairy expert and general manager of the excellent Vermont Creamery, to teach us how to make cultured butter at home.